Actress Emma Stone Opens Up About Struggling With Anxiety

In a Speak Up For Kids campaign, actress Emma Stone offers wise words to help kids better cope with anxiety symptoms.

On being normal:

“What I would tell kids who are going through anxiety, which I can relate to, is that you’re so normal,” she said in the Child Mind Institute video. “Everyone experiences a version of anxiety or worry in their lives and maybe we go through it in a different or more intense way for longer periods of time, but there’s nothing wrong with you … don’t ever feel like you’re a weirdo for it, because we’re all weirdos.”

On being sensitive:

“To be a sensitive person that cares a lot, that takes things in a deep way, is actually part of what makes you amazing and is one of the greatest gifts of life. You think a lot and you feel a lot and deeply—and it’s the best.” She then explained that she wouldn’t trade her ability to ‘feel a lot’ and ‘feel deeply’ for the world, even when faced with hard times.

On facing hard times:

“There are so many tools you can use to help yourself in those times and it does get better and easier as life goes on…you get to know yourself more and what will trigger certain instances of anxiety and where you feel comfortable and safe,” she explained. “It’s so nice to know in those moments of real intensity that it will shift and it will change and there’s a lot I can do to help myself.”

On things getting better:

“Life goes in stages, and it has always been something that I’ve lived with and that flares up in big ways at different times in my life,” she said. “But sometimes when it’s happening, when I’m in a phase of real turmoil or the anxiety is very strong, it feels like the anxiety is never going to end … and it does.”